Beyond Death
Background Serana and I have entered the Soul Cairn in pursuit of her estranged mother, Valerica, and the Elder Scroll she took when she fled Castle Volkihar. Walkthrough After entering the Soul Cairn, follow the mark along the path up to the massive ruin where you will find Valerica. Along the way the Dragonborn will pass souls sitting or walking about and one of them will begin a dialogue with the Dragonborn and the quest Find Arvak's Skull begins. Bonemen, Wrathmen and Mistmen might also appear when passing stacks of bones or other structures. When arriving at the ruin Serana calls out her mothers name and she walks towards her daughter behind a barrier that keeps her imprisoned. Speak to Valerica After speaking to her daughter, Valerica turns to the Dragonborn and through the dialogue she tells the story about what happened. She also reveals she has the Elder Scroll in safe keeping and what needs to be done. To free her the Dragonborn needs to eliminate The Boneyard Keepers. Kill the Boneyard Keepers Follow the markers to the three destinations and kill the three Boneyard Keepers. If the Boneyard Keeper is on top of the structure the Dragonborn is guided to jump into a soulwell and is transported to the top of the ruin. After all 3 are killed, go back to Valerica and she will be free and the barrier is gone. She explains what to do in order to get the Elder Scroll and the Dragonborn must defeat Durnehviir, a dragon. Defeat Durnehviir Follow Valerica through the door to the boneyard. Soon Durnehviir appears and with the help of both Valerica and Serana, defeat the dragon. He will put up a fight and summon help from Bonemen with his unique shout. Retrieve Elder Scroll (Blood) After the dragon is defeated, Valerica shows the Dragonborn where the Elder Scroll (Blood) is hidden. Exit the Boneyard with Serana and outside Durnehviir is waiting and initiates a conversation where he teaches the Summon Durnehviir shout. He requests the Dragonborn summon him while in Tamriel so that he may see his home once again. Return to Tamriel Once the Dragonborn and Serana return to Valerica's Study through the portal the quest is complete. It is possible to fast travel out of Castle Volkihar instead of walking back. Journal Bugs *The quest may become incomplete-able if Valerica does not initiate her dialogue when the castle is approached. *Valerica may only walk halfway up the stairs, then descend them, making the quest unable to be completed. This may cause the Xbox 360 achievement to not be rewarded. *Valerica and Serana become stuck at the doors to the Boneyard, and will not enter. The player may still go in to kill the dragon, but Valerica and Serana will not enter the Boneyard, making the quest unable to be completed. ** This can be solved using console commands. After entering the Boneyard, select Valerica or Serana with the command "prid" (02003B8E for Valerica; 02002B74 for Serana) and then use "moveto player" to bring each of them to the player. Once in the Boneyard, they should continue the sequence normally. *If you depart the soul cairn and cure your vampirism, you'll be unable to return and Serana will no longer offer you the choice of becoming a vampire, or having your soul partially locked away. Trivia *Upon entering the Soul Cairn, one of the NPC's that the Dragonborn may talk to says "Death is but a door, time is but a window, I'll be back." This is a direct quote from Vigo the Carpathian, the main antagonist of Ghostbusters II. Appearances * ru:За гранью смерти Category:Dawnguard: Main Quests